MARIES COUNTY — Included on Missouri’s ballot in November is a proposed amendment to the state constitution that would create a permanent endowment fund. The “Show-Me Prosperity Fund” could eliminate all state-imposed taxes if it eventually reaches a level where its earnings are comparable to Missouri’s tax revenue. However, the timeline is unknown.

In 2025, Missouri collected over $24 billion in tax dollars. Over $21 billion of that money came from income and sales taxes, according to the Missouri Department of Revenue.

Amendment 7 aims to replace that money with revenue from a long-term investment fund. The amendment would also cap the amount to be removed from the fund at three percent in a fiscal year. The bill specifies that the money would be invested in exchange-traded funds tied to the S&P 500, but allows for lawmakers to choose a different index in the future.

It is unclear how long it would take Missouri to invest the hundreds of billions of dollars necessary to create a level of revenue anywhere close to current tax revenue. The “Show-Me Prosperity Fund” would have monies “appropriated to it by the general assembly, and may also receive gifts, donations, grants and bequests from any source,” according to the Senate resolution.

Estimates suggest that the fund would need at least a century of steady investment to eventually generate enough of a windfall to equal current tax revenue. That is independent of inflation.

Governments that have successfully created similar endowment funds, such as Norway and the State of Alaska, were able to consistently invest in the fund due to a steady stream of revenue from natural resources like oil.

Missouri would have to rely on different means, while still using existing tax revenue to provide all the public services taxes pay for. The Missouri State Auditor has projected the state will operate at a deficit of $1.7 billion in 2027, according to a report from June, 2026.

Proponents of the bill characterize the fund as a benefit, not in the short-term, but to future generations of Missouri residents. They believe it could eventually remove the need for any state-level taxes.

Detractors worry that there are no available means of building the fund, to the necessary level that would replace tax dollars, without spending decades investing revenue that is currently used by the state to provide critical services.

The bill also contains a clause that would allow future lawmakers to impose new taxes, should the fund fail to meet Missouri’s needs in the future.

The bill passed, allowing for a public vote on the amendment, along party lines in the Missouri Senate earlier this year with all 22 Republicans in attendance voting yes and all seven Democrats in attendance voting no.